Hearing aids operate to amplify sounds for users that are hearing impaired. FIG. 1 is a schematic of a conventional digital hearing aid system 100. The conventional digital hearing aid system 100 includes a microphone (MIC) 102 that picks up sound and converts it into electronic analog signals. An analog-to-digital (A/D) converter 104 converts the analog signals from the microphone 102 into digital signals. A digital signal processor (DSP) 106 operates to process the digital signals from the A/D converter 104. More particularly, the DSP 106 includes amplification circuitry and/or software processes that filter the digital signals to reduce unwanted components and also amplify desired components to compensate for hearing loss. A digital-to-analog (D/A) converter 108 can then converts the processed digital signals back to processed analog signals. Finally, the processed analog signals can be supplied to a receiver 110 to output amplified sounds.
Hearing aids are custom electronic devices that are expensive and personalized to particular users. Unfortunately, conventional hearing aids have an average life cycle of only about five (5) years. In addition to a rather short life cycle, hearing aids are likely to require maintenance or repairs after being in use for one (1) year. These shortcomings of conventional hearing aids are a burden for both hearing aid users and hearing aid manufacturers. For hearing aid users, a repair usually means they will not have hearing assistance for several days. Additionally, if their hearing aid is out of warranty, users are saddled with significant repair expenses. For hearing aid manufacturers, the cost of the repairs is high due to costs associated with shipping, components, skilled labor and equipment for servicing both new and old products. These high repair costs also lead manufacturers to charge relatively high prices for purchase of hearing aids.
Disposable hearing aids offer an alternative to these problems. However, current disposable hearing aids are based on battery life and have several drawbacks. The most significant drawback is its life cycle. Because it is desired to make a hearing aid as small as possible, its battery size is limited. Current disposable hearing aids are dependent on battery life and thus have very short life cycles—just over a month. Because other components of the disposable hearing aids are relatively expensive, the overall cost for disposable hearing aids is still high. As a result, the conventional disposable hearing aids are frequently too expensive for users.
Thus, there is a need for limited use hearing aids (or other assistive listening devices) that are available at lower prices and have longer and/or configurable life cycles.